XXXVI REPORT—1843. 
(Letter No. 3.) 
“2 Duke Street, Adelphi, June 10, 1843. 
“ Srr,—As one of the General Secretaries of the British Association, I 
have the honour to reply to your letter of the 24th of April, addressed to 
that body, and to state very briefly the circumstances under which the Re- 
ductions of the Stars in the Histoire Céleste of Lalande and in the Calum 
Australe Stelliferum of Lacaille, were undertaken by the British Association. 
“Grants of money for these works (as well as for a Catalogue of about 
8500 stars, reduced up to the present time, to be called the British Association 
Catalogue) were voted upon the earnest recommendation of the Committee 
of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences in the year 1837, at a period 
when the funds of the Association were very considerable from the accumu- 
lation of the life subscriptions of its members, and when those funds had not 
been seriously reduced by grants for other scientific objects, which have since 
occurred, to the amount of nearly £12,000. 
‘** The reductions of those stars, when once resolved upon, were prosecuted 
with great activity ; and at the last meeting of the Association, held at Man- 
chester, Sir John Herschel and Mr. Baily reported that all the three works 
were severally completed and ready for the press. The General Committee 
voted the requisite sum for the publication of the British Association Cata- 
logue, as being a work of the most pressing importance for the purposes of 
practical astronomy ; but their funds were found to be inadequate to the pub- 
lication of the other two valuable catalogues, consistently with their engage- 
ments for grants for other objects, and for the completion of other under- 
takings which were in progress. Under such circumstances therefore it was 
considered expedient to make an application to Her Majesty’s Government 
for the grant of the funds requisite for the completion of these works, which 
were considered so important for the interests of astronomy. 
“ The Committee were encouraged to hope that such an application would 
not be disregarded, from the prompt attention which was formerly paid to an 
application, made upon the recommendation of the same Committee for a 
grant of funds for the reduction of the Planetary and Lunar Observations 
made at Greenwich from the time of Bradley downwards; a vast and import- 
ant undertaking, which is now nearly completed under the superintendence of 
the Astronomer Royal. 
“I beg to forward to you the last volume of the Reports of the British 
Association, in which, at pages xxvi. to xxix. of the Introduction, will be found 
a statement of the sums actually paid for scientific objects and researches 
from the date of its first establishment, amounting in the whole to upwards of 
£8300. The existing available property of the Association now scarcely 
exceeds £5000, invested in the public funds, which is already pledged to the 
extent of £3339 5s. for grants made at the last Annual Meeting at Manchester, 
the particulars of which may be seen in pages xxv. and xxvi. of the accom- 
panying volume; and this available property may be further reduced by other 
claims that may be made on it at the next Annual General Meeting. 
“ During the eight years that the Association has been in active operation, 
it has appropriated £2200 upon astronomical tables and reductions; £1550 
upon the reduction and discussion of observations on the tides; £1400 upon 
meteorological and magnetical instruments, observations and reductions ; 
£900 upon experiments for determining the best form of vessels, and for 
other researches connected with this inquiry; £400 upon experiments on the 
manufacture of iron and the strength of materials; and upwards of £5000 upon 
experiments and researches on medical, botanical, zoological and various 
other branches of science. And it is proper to add that the whole of these 
